


It's What We Do Now

by Funeral_lily



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Break Up Talk, M/M, Mario Kart References, Recreational Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:48:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25312579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Funeral_lily/pseuds/Funeral_lily
Summary: Kevin never had a normal childhood, never had those crazy teenage experiences. Now he has a day of rest. A day to sit back, and ignore the crush in the making.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Aaron Minyard
Kudos: 73





	It's What We Do Now

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Kiwi, for telling me "please don't take this to heart" as he sent me a red stained first draft back.
> 
> I'm trying to write again, and I love Kevaaron. So I figured I would write the content I want to see.

Kevin was sinking in the deflated bean bag chair on the floor, Aaron claiming the good one saying it was for “Mariokart champions only.” Kevin would like to argue that he could easily be a Mariokart champion if: a) he had the good beanbag, or b) Mariokart was actually worth being good at.

Still, he was basically ass to the floor in this sad bean bag playing poorly against the other Minyard, cursing himself and Aaron as he lost round after round. Which meant that, in the end, he was still no closer to this supposed Mariokart Champion status. Having only one lucky run (thank you blue shells), the game ended with a sad score of 1-4. It was at this point Aaron grew bored of the lack of challenge, and he stopped the game to pull out a small glass bowl and a bag that Kevin knew contained weed. He watched quietly as Aaron packed it in and lit up.

It was something he'd obviously seen before. Nicky and Aaron being the ones to partake in the recreational use, with Andrew usually just off to the side being quiet and unamused as Kevin sat awkwardly between them all. It was a thing that, despite all his drinking and blatant alcoholism, he had never done before. Alcohol seemed acceptable and easy (exy teams didn’t test you for alcohol. They tested you for drugs. Something he pointed out to Nicky on the few occasions that he nicked a few of Wymack’s painkillers), so he hadn't made the leap just yet.

Still, sitting here with it just being him and Aaron, felt oddly intimate. He was hyper aware of all the other man's movements, watching his fingers and lips as he brought the pipe to inhale and then cough a bit.

Aaron said nothing as he leaned back to let the high set in, and then moved on to playing Breath of the Wild as Kevin stayed put and watched.

He should be practicing exy, training his left hand back to strength and perfecting his skills. He should be sweating on the court right now, shouting drills to Neil as Andrew laid about in the bleachers (they were both spectacularly MIA as it were so that plan wouldn’t be happening anyway). He should be watching and rewatching old tapes and plays and memorizing his rivals movements and strategies.

He wasn’t though, and he wasn’t going to because Dr. Dobson had told him it was important to take time for things that were not exy. Despite the blasphemy in that statement, he was taking care to listen to her.

"You weren't given a normal childhood," she had pointed out, as if that weren't the most obvious thing in existence, as if any of the people on this team had had any semblance of a normal childhood. "You missed out on a lot of formative experiences, why not indulge and have a normal college life?"

He had scoffed, and ranted that he was fine, thank you very much, he had exy and his life and that was all he needed.

She had sat patiently, smiling and nodding, before stating, "that's fine and well, but what will you do when you inevitably burn out by not taking time for yourself?"

It was hardly a question, and it was impossibly true.

He wouldn't burn out though, he thought, he could never.

Still, it was a true fear in the back of his mind, and so he gave way to her gentle prodding and found himself bent in weird angles on this damned bean bag chair, watching Aaron get high and play a video game.

That was a normal college experience, right? Sitting around with a friend? Which, with that thought, brought a whole new concern: was Aaron Minyard his friend? Hell, was the man a friend to any of them?

His eyes cut sharply to the side, watching the set determination the other had as he fought some weird rock creature. It was a determination he couldn't even say he saw from Aaron on the court, which almost had Kevin scoffing at just how truly alike the twins were in some ways.

"Staring." Aaron said. Something Kevin had heard Andrew say. It felt strange to hear in a softer lilt from the other Minyard (he supposed friends didn't think of anyone as the other anything, and he set that box aside to be opened another day).

This time, he did scoff. "Just amazed that you can actually care about something. Why that something is as pointless as video games is beyond me." He rolled his eyes in dramatic fashion, looking forward in time to miss the angry look the blond gave him and to see his little character get flung to the side.

"Fuck!"

Kevin smirked a bit at that, and settled himself cozily into his sad bean bag.

~*~

The next time it happens and Kevin finds himself folded into the bean bag of Not Mariokart Champions, he’s not surprised to be on the losing side again before Aaron gets bored and changes the game once more. Back to Breath of the Wild, a game that Kevin still had no idea if it had a plot aside from fighting monsters and making food, and kept himself planted in his seat to watch.

This time it was Aaron's eyes cutting sideways at him, narrowing a bit in suspicion as he packed his bowl and began to light up. He gave his full attention to what he was doing, tapping the glass and bringing the lighter to the top, inhaling fully. His eyes were closed, and he leaned into the chair with his head tilted back before he spoke. "What? No exy today?"

It startled Kevin to be addressed by him, having spent the last time in relative silence after he jabbed at Aaron, and he looked over with eyes a bit too wide for a supposedly innocent question. Kevin gulped a bit and shifted awkwardly as he looked back to the screen, the character standing idle in a field, and said, "rest day."

He refused to see the look on Aaron's face. "Rest day."

There was a moment's pause before he saw the character resume movement and he relaxed. Kevin didn't know why trying to socialize and be normal was so embarrassing, but it made him uneasy. He supposed it had to do with the reaction he got- everyone knew he wasn't normal, and he felt like he was masquerading as if he was. Lying about who he was in the same way Neil did. Pretending to be a whole person.

He watched Aaron silently for a long while, scrunching his nose as some bizarre creature appeared on the screen. "What is that?"

Aaron didn't look at him, and a glance over showed Kevin that the blond was leaned forward with his tongue poked out between his lips. Another trait that separated the twins from one another. Kevin pursed his own lips to keep away a smile.

"That's a lynel, and I'm going to need you to shut up."

"It looks like a bastardized minotaur and centaur." Kevin continued, decidedly not shutting up.

Aaron didn't reply.

Kevin continued on. "I suppose it could still be called a centaur." He prattled. "Did you know the taur in centaur and minotaur means bull? Centaur actually means bull-"

Aaron yelled as his character was struck down, and turned a fiery and hateful gaze towards Kevin. Kevin almost pulled himself away before remembering this was Aaron and he was safe from hitting hands.

"Day, do you not understand what the fuck 'shut up' means?!" He was gesticulating wildly and Kevin eyed the controller thag was sure to fly out of Aaron's hands soon. "I need to kill this fucker and I can't do that when you're rambling about fucking bull people!"

It sounded a bit sexual when worded that way, which Kevin contemplated pointing out, but shut up all the same. He quickly brings his attention back to the screen, tense and shrinking in on himself as Aaron reloaded at an old save. He breathed softly, and didn't know what to do, if he should leave or-

"I don't think the top half is meant to be a bull anyway."

Kevin relaxed almost instantly, giving a shaky exhale as a small smile stretched on his lips, breath evening out as he leaned back with his knees pulled up. "Yeah, I don't think so either."

~*~

It became almost a tradition. Every Tuesday afternoon, Kevin joined Aaron to get his ass kicked in some game, be it Mariokart or Smash Bros. or some game about squid people. And afterwards he relaxed with Aaron to watch him play a single player game.

Aaron grumbled as Kevin tried to dictate how he played-pointing things out and complaining about some things not making sense- leading him to trying to tell Aaron how to play the game. After that went on for too long, Aaron groaned and scowled, not looking away from the screen as he asked, "are you just incapable of letting someone else have control?"

Kevin didn't reply to this accusation. He pursed his lips and thought of a time when he had no control. When every move he made was dictated by someone else. He cast his eyes away from the screen as if to give Aaron some privacy to play the game on his own.

Aaron, realizong the error of his comment, remedied it with, "Well come on man, what am I missing?" He nudges Kevin's foot with his own, making him look up at the screen to one of those weird puzzle rooms the game had.

He smiled shyly at Aaron, biting the bottom of his lip as he replied, "You're putting that ball thing in the wrong spot, clearly."

No one mentioned that Aaron's confusion was obviously fake, and that this was as close to an apology any Minyard would give. But something about the action put a weight in his chest. Their feet stayed touching.

~*~

One Tuesday, Nicky asked about the new arrangement, looking at the two of them sitting awkwardly in bean bags on the floor in front of the television- which was the nicest thing they had in the dorm room. Aaron merely shrugged and said, "It's what we do now."

We.

This is when something stirred in Kevin, the beginnings of something he tried to ignore. He was part of a we, a different we than the monsters, than him and Riko. It wasn’t the ‘we’ of convenience. He wasn’t forced to be here, it wasn’t the requirement of some deal or a sense of obligation- he was here because he wanted to be. They spent time together because they both wanted to. ‘We.’

"Awe, little Aaron is making friends!" Nicky cooed, leaning over to ruffle Aaron's hair as the other scowled and pulled away.

"Fuck off, man." He swatted at his cousin, as Kevin watched with a mix of fondness and a touch of jealousy at the casualness of it all. Of the closeness. He wondered if he would reach this level of comfort with anyone.

Instead of dwelling on the possibilities and shortcomings of his sad life, Kevin leaned forward to grab the discarded bowl with it's burnt flower. Fumbling with it awkwardly for a bit, aware of the other two as they stopped to watch him, he brought it to his lips and copied the actions he's seen so many times before. Taking the lighter to the top, he inhaled, then yelped as he burnt his fingers, dropping the bowl and spilling ash to the floor.

Kevin wound up coughing violently and it made his head spin. He thought drinking must be better because surely it's easier than this.

Aaron and Nicky both watched in odd fascination.

"I think you're a bad influence." Nicky told Aaron, watching a red-faced Kevin as he struggled for breath.

The smile on Aaron's lips was small and relaxed, almost lazy, and given away without a second thought… and Kevin thought that burning the shit out of his fingers and lungs must be worth it for such a smile to be aimed at him.

~*~

It all came to a head one Tuesday when instead of their usual games, Kevin found himself sitting on the floor in Aaron’s dorm. Their knees were pressed against each other, a warm bowl between them and the haze of smoke filled the room. Kevin was staring at Aaron's fingers as he pulled at fuzz and lint on his old jeans.

"So, what? What do I do now?" Aaron’s voice is heavy and raw. He’s not making eye contact, his eyes puffy and red- and not just from the weed- as he rubs at his still slightly runny nose.

"What makes you think I know?" Kevin asks quietly, his eyes definitely red from the weed as he looks back up to Aaron's face, which was pulled into a small frown and was framed by tear stains on his cheeks.

Aaron is quiet for a moment before shrugging. "It's what you do, you tell me how to do everything. You always have a plan." His hand is shaking slightly as he reaches forward and his fingers find and grip Kevin's, looking at the intricate scars lacing his knuckles.

"Plan?" The word felt drawn out and he couldn't bring himself to look away from the flushed face in front of him. From Aaron, no longer the other Minyard, but Aaron.

"You always watch me play games and tell me how to do it. What do I do now?" He sniffed a bit, and Kevin was too selfish to be honest. To tell him he's not sure what Aaron should do. Kevin had only ever had Thea and that was hardly a relationship if he really thinks about it. Breaking up barely felt any different from being together. So he tried to recite the words of Comfort spoken in hundreds of teen movies.

"You move on? I guess?" God… he was terrible at comfort. His hands were clammy as they gripped just as sweaty fingers. His mouth dry as he swallowed, finally taking his eyes away from the blond’s face and finding the carpet to be endlessly more fascinating than the conversation they were currently having.

Aaron laughed, a little more listless than his usual short huffs, clearly a mimicry of what real laughter should be. "You're a terrible liar." He echoes the thoughts in Kevin's head, and all he can do is nod mutely because yes. Yes he is.

They sit there like that for what feels like an eternity but is more likely 10 minutes. Kevin staring intently at the ground while Aaron stares at the wall, not really seeing anything.

"Did you?" Aaron's voice is somewhat raspy, and it brought Kevin's attention back to the other's face where he stared at honey brown eyes with pupils blown wide boring holes into him.

He wet his lips. "Did I what?"

"Move on." A whisper.

Kevin found himself locked in on those eyes, red rimmed from weed and tears, and he swallowed audibly before he answered, "yeah. I think I did."


End file.
